Game Over! Day 3 of Games at C2E2: DePaul E-Sports, and Nolan North Finish Off This Year’s Con

Photo: Aaron Cynic That’s it. C2E2’s over. It’s cos-played out, but if you missed it—or any day—we have a recap of what we saw while were there. And this year was so jammed with activities, cool things to see, celebrities to meet it was impossible to see it all. Check out what you might have missed during this year’s final day at C2E2 2019. Photo: Marielle Shaw We took one last look at the show floor, and man, was it great for games this year. I just wanted to, again, mention Chicago’s I Play Games for their amazing contribution to the C2E2 Gaming Zone. With a schedule packed full of tournaments for games like Overwatch, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and so many different games to play (for free!)  it was a significant contribution to this year’s C2E2, and made it so there was never a time where you couldn’t find something to do. The tabletop gaming section was equally amazing, and it was great to see how many people were meeting, and making friends over games. Photo: Antal Bokor Also on the show floor was the second half to this year’s Logan Playtest Party C2E2 booth winners, and this time it we look at the hilarious card game Too Many Poops. It’s a set collection game where the goal is to collect cats, but that has the drawback of collecting poop—get the most points without getting too many poops! It's getting a lot of attention for its humorous theme and amusing gameplay. Check it out for yourself.  Photo: Antal Bokor DePaul has its own e-sports teams that compete in various games, most recently at the Collegiate Rocket League National Championship, so we thought it was great that some students and alum were hosting a panel on e-sports in college. We checked out the “Gaming & College: Incorporating Gaming into your Academic Career” panel yesterday featuring Professor Samantha Close, Chris Jackson, Esteban Perez, Katie Pawlicki, Stephen Sotor and Sam Elsbernd.  It had some great information for those who are curious about the budding e-sports world, and who might want to try and get into the market. If you think your only way into e-sports is by being the best at any particular game, that’s not exactly true. There are tons of opportunities to organize, advertise, and build e-sports groups, not just compete in them. DePaul alum Stephen Sotor who works with content creators to help build their platforms said, “(e-sports) is a whole new market, and (it’s allowing) entrepreneurs to start-up and find their niche—find their hold and provide a service others might not think about.” With how young e-sports is, the market is hot. According to DePaul professor Samantha Close, DePaul and a lot of other colleges are moving quickly to establish themselves with e-sports and moving quickly is something that is not usual in the academic world.  E-sports is changing fast, and whoever gets into any aspect of it—whether you’re playing the game, promoting a group, or organization your own--has to be willing to change with it. Photo: Marielle Shaw We caught Nolan North at the Twisted Toonz panel on Saturday, but we finally got a chance to see the legendary voice actor in a one-on-one interview on the Syfy Wire live stage. North is hilarious, and a great storyteller on top of being a wide-ranging voice actor. If you’re not familiar with North’s work… well, let me tell you, you ARE familiar with his work. He’s voiced everything from Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series, to Deadpool, to The Penguin in the Arkham series. Nolan North doesn’t like to be called a pioneer because that “just means old.”  North told a number of great stories, and talked about what it’s like to be a voice actor, and how to “find that character” by adding your own spin or flair to it. He also demonstrated the amount of physicality some of these performances take, as Arkham’s Penguin has an accent, and a deep, guttural voice that North can only achieve by flattening his chin against his chest. Photo: Marielle Shaw When Nolan North was asked about Nathan Fillion’s portrayal of Nathan Drake in an Uncharted short film, North was honored, and thought Fillion mostly nailed it: except for the way Drake handles his iconic banter. “The banter goes after the punch, not before” insists North, in reference to Fillion’s Drake saying “kitty got wet” before he threw his punch. “Banter before a punch leaves you open to get punched” argued North—and we tend to agree with him. North also spent a bit of time plugging his Retro Replay YouTube series with fellow voice actor Troy Baker. They play retro games (badly) and are hilarious while so doing—you should check it out here. So that’s ten years of C2E2 done. Ten years of cosplay, celebrity guests, and a whole lot of Chicago fandom craziness. We love the recent push for games, and we hope to see this trend continue. Here’s to another ten years, C2E2! If you missed this year’s C2E2, you can catch them next year—February 28th through March 3rd, 2020.     If you like the video game, tabletop, or other technology content that Third Coast Review has to offer, consider donating to our Patreon. We are the only publication in Chicago that regularly reviews video games, and we cover lots of local Chicago-based events and more. If you want to contribute to our coverage of Chicago’s video game scene (and more) please consider becoming a patron. 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Antal Bokor

Antal is video game advocate, retro game collector, and video game historian. He is also a small streamer, occasional podcast guest, and writer.